Public and private sector leaders moved to create the National Quality Forum (NQF) in late 1999 out of a shared sense of urgency about the need for valid, reliable, and standardized healthcare performance measures to support and advance public accountability, quality improvement efforts, increased patient safety, and value-based purchasing. Currently, NQF has over 350 members reflecting broad participation from all parts of the healthcare system. Largely through the efforts of NQF, standardized healthcare quality performance measures are becoming available for use at both the local and national levels and through all care settings. With the increased adoption of NQF-endorsed(tm) voluntary consensus standards, dialogue and collaboration among all healthcare stakeholders has become increasingly critical. NQF's Annual National Policy Conference has become an opportunity for healthcare stakeholders and leaders to come together to learn about the latest developments in healthcare quality and to discuss the challenges and opportunities in implementing NQFendorsed voluntary consensus standards. A focus of the 9th Annual National Policy Conference is the policy levers than can be deployed to advance the attainment of national priorities improvement goals to specified changes in the delivery system through system redesign, efficiency dashboards, payment reforms, and the spread of research and best practices. [unreadable] [unreadable] [unreadable]